Off The Main Highlights Erasmus Project

Project Title

Off The Main Highlights

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Regional dimension and cooperation

Project Summary

This international two-year KA2 project ‘Off the Main Highlights’ brings together four European schools: Gymnázium Děčín (CZ), Kauno Roku gimnazija (LTU), Bataafs Lyceum – OSG Hengelo (NL), and Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela (PRT).

It started as an initiative of our school – Gymnázium Děčín, which due to our recent Erasmus+ KA1 projects gained knowledge, skills, experience and confidence to finally organize an international project also for our pupils.
This specific project design commenced last year for the need to offer more opportunities of non-formal learning to our pupils who desire and directly ask for such experiences and we see their enormous value as well. This type of learning is a part of our school’s European development plan too. The topic of the project has been invented by us to serve several purposes and to be as beneficial for the pupils and teachers as possible. Firstly, it is directed at the development of pupils’ skills crucial for the 21st century careers, such as English language, ICT, critical thinking, creative, cooperative and social skills. Secondly, the activities cover several subjects, like geography, history, biology, arts, civics, English, ICT; enable pupils gain deeper knowledge in them and make cross-curricular links. Thirdly, we have wanted the project results to be of use also by project local communities and the activities to enable the involved schools to be in contact with the public. Last but not least, as the project work is supposed to be an extra-curricular activity for the volunteer participants, we carefully thought of something enjoyable and attractive. Another important factor has been to create a project involving activities that would require a lot of cooperation of pupils in mixed international teams, both online and during the planned mobilities to the partner schools. Finally, we have wanted to have a project that would get pupils and teachers outdoors and physically active while using technologies.

Thus ‘Off the Main Highlights’ has been created and got its shape. It simply aims at mapping geographically, historically, and architectonically interesting places that are not the main and well-known highlights of our regions. Plus, there are also always cultural experience involved. The concrete results will be 64 markers created in Google My Maps, where pupils will publish texts, photos, videos, audios in English and project-countries mother tongues: Czech, Dutch, Lithuanian, Portuguese. There will be also added recorded pupils’ drama sketches based on chosen local stories connected to the marked places. Mixed international teams of pupils will collect and create the needed material on expeditions happening during the mobilities to partner schools. The expeditions will also contain a treasure hunt with the means of an app. The treasures will contain local products and artefacts related to the expedition places/cultural experience. Each of the mobilities will vary in its unique expeditions, different team-building activities, interviews with locals and original sketches. Processing of the collected materials will happen afterwards, the work will be divided into four mixed international teams. An ebook with 20 teambuilding activities is another outcome.
During each of these four mobilities we plan a lecture for the local public ‘WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT … (there will be names of the three visiting countries in the title) – with a follow-up discussion. Pupils, teachers, parents, locals, media will be invited. They will have a chance to go to a final expedition in every country at the end of the project term as well.
In order to support and prepare the pupils to be able to fulfil the tasks teachers will attend a short-term joined staff training, organised by the Czech teachers, on Google My Maps, video, photo, audio taking and editing, drama techniques and treasure hunt mobile apps.

Selection of our partner schools: they have joined us on the basis of our project proposal, shared motivation for KA2, the regional character and skills-development potential of the topic and activities. Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela we know through our past eTwinning projects. Kauno Roku gimnazija and Bataafs Lyceum we have carefully chosen from many responses to our add in the eTwinning Partner search forum. We have co-planned the project since the autumn 2018.

Methodology used during the project will be: lecturing, collaborative learning, debriefing, demonstrating, discussions, game-based learning, learning expeditions and storytelling.

We have decided to open the project as an eTwinning project too – in order to use the Twinspace for various online activities, communication and sharing the materials and outputs. Naturally, we plan to use for the wider dissemination, for example, the means of printed local media, project website/Instagram/Facebook, blogs on national educational/methodological websites, and tripadvisor @offthemainhighlights.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 118646 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gymnazium Decin, prispevkova organizace & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Vilela
• Kauno Roku gimnazija
• OSG Hengelo